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Thankyou Gentlemen, here are some more arty photos (look at those shadows!) as bits and pieces get dismantled and re-assembled and so on. The whole valve gear business is organised to unbolt from the chassis for painting, very handy. For fans of the MOK Armstrong and fine modelling in 7mm; I note that Mr Raymond Walley is busy posting up details of his own progress on his web-site, raymondwalley.com.

Lovely locos Kev and I always enjoy your layout when I see it at exhibitions, I'll try to say hello next time! Progress on the Armstrong shows the chassis with cylinder chest, motion bars and cross-heads, (looking even more like a Klingon space-ship...) I love the way you get to see how the real things worked, I've read a number of books on the subject since I started scratch-building and it's great to be able to create some of those fantastic bits of engineering in miniature. In order to get it all working I had to fit the wheels to the crankshaft axle. The instructions suggest you do that before cutting the axle out. All was OK with a couple of square brass rods acting as wedges (thanks OzzyO...), I'm not sure which way round would have been easier but I managed not to distort the crankshaft and got the wheel back-to-back correct with my hefty brass gauge. And they make rather beautiful arty photos too. Now I have to connect it all together with the other bits and pieces of valve gear...

Hi David, thankyou very much for your kind comments. I'm really enjoying building the kit. I find RMWEB to be such an encouraging forum, with lots of positivity, inspiration and shared ideas. Posting up the build gives me a bit of a nudge to get on with it too! I think it's an interesting comparison between MOK and Scorpio, Kev. Looking at the etches from the "Achilles" again (I've had the kit in the cupboard for 4 or 5 years), they seem much more precise than I remember. I found the instructions difficult but with 5 years more experience things seem a lot simpler. My first 7mm kit was a Scorpio GWR 14xx tank and it builds up to a lovely model and was a very steep and enjoyable learning curve, all those rivets. And then there's the difference in price; the Scorpio "Armstrong" must be a good few hundred pounds cheaper! I'd love to see some photos of your models and hear of any other tips you might have in building the Achilles. Cheers Simon Here are the Armstrong coupling rods before cleaning up. And here is Earl Cawdor's chassis balancing gently (and rather indistinctly) on its new bogie frame.

Hi Ken, an interesting class of loco and that chassis looks lovely! While I'm steadily making progress on my working inside valve gear, I think that future projects will again involve the cosmetic variety; it looks just as good and is pretty difficult to see when the model is moving!

Hi Oz, brilliant idea, many thanks for the drawing, I'll have a go at those and heed the warnings of un-wanted Loctite in the bearings. I got side-tracked last night, after thinking about how I'd have to scratch-build the front bogie for "Earl Cawdor" I remembered that my Scorpio "Achilles" kit had a number of different options for building the bogie. Again, perfect for the Earl. I remembered because I read the instructions as many times as a play script and I love kit manufacturers who provide all those little extra castings and bits on the etches! So...with a bit of fettling I got this far. I may end up starting the Achilles as well...

Hi OzzyO, very sharp-eyed of you, my trusty micrometer shows a taper on the axle; I might add a tiny dot of Loctite as belt and braces. I've just read your ideas on crank-pins in Sandy's thread, very helpful indeed! And I'll definately use some brass wedges when I fit the wheels. Cheers. And thankyou too Peter, I hadn't considered the quartering; luckily, as they're outside framed wheels the quartering happens at the outside cranks which screw onto the squared ends of the axle. Very nice little machined ones are supplied with the kit.

Right, after a number of distractions, including a stand-up gig last night from which I'm pretty sure I'm now barred, (involved a kilt, a table and a mask of David Cameron...) I've got on with finishing the crankshaft. The instructions advise fitting the bearings and wheels before sawing away the unwanted axle portions, as pushing the wheels on afterwards could distort the crankshaft. I decided to support the webs with balsa wedges as I wanted to get at everything freely. I'll wedge it again when I come to put the wheels on for good. Although starting off with the razor saw I switched to a very fine blade in the coping saw for finer control. The result was suprisingly easy and very satisfying. A bit like magic in fact! I'm not quite sure how to secure the wheels to the axles, they're a push fit with no mechanical attachment. Loctite? Super-glue? If any -one has some useful advice/ideas I'd very much appreciate it! Next, putting everything back together and seeing if it all runs sweetly.

Thankyou Martyn, the instructions say that you should "centre the crankshaft accurately on the axle" and as I am a bit obsessive about these things I used the graph paper. However hard I try to mark out measurements I always seem to have to make adjustments after the event and there didn't seem to be any second chances with this one! The kit is so well designed that almost everything goes together beautifully first time and you do have to take care to make sure your concentration and understanding of the instructions matches the quality of design. Not too much whiskey then, particularly when wielding the blow-torch!

On to soldering the Armstrong's leading driving axle into the crankshaft. I got everything central and square using graph paper, wood blocks and blu-tack. I really like graph paper, everything's already squared and measured for you! (It does burn though....) I tacked the axle in place with as much power as the soldering iron could muster and then brought out the big guns! The mini-blow torch is wonderfully exciting and very, very hot. The flux disappeared in milli-seconds and the 179' solder with 2% silver nipped into the joints. Then a clean up with a steel brush in the mini-drill and a wee bit of fire fighting and all is set to remove the unwanted bits of axle with the piercing saw...

Doesn't work get in the way of the important things in life? Still, we've had beautiful frosty weather to cycle through in the mornings and the evenings are gradually getting lighter. I helped load and unload the crush barriers for the St Albans Exhibition last weekend and very much enjoyed some excellent layouts. The show seemed well attended and there were lots of kids, which is encouraging. The organisers thoughtfully provide rather cool periscopes too! Back to the inside valve gear of the Armstrong, I used a hand vice and mini-drill with a dental burr/grinder to open out the eccentrics to a touch over 10mm inside diameter, taking care to keep everything circular. I finished off by polishing with a cylindrical stone in the mini-drill and checked for circularity against a 10mm drill bit. All now revolves smoothly and the next job is to solder the axle into the crankshaft and remove the unwanted bits of axle. I've also added an ash-pan to "Earl Cawdor" which has fleshed out the inner frames a bit.

While I'm having a think about the valve-gear (I like to take time off to have a think...swimming is very good for it!) I've decided to crack on with the parallel project of building "Earl Cawdor." I made up the inside side-frames about two years ago. I'd been to Didcot and seen the frames of, I think, their KIng, and was impressed by how thin they were and the fact that they were able to flex as the loco negotiated curves. So, I cut these frames, in response, out of unfeasibly thin brass. Nickel-silver would have been better as it doesn't kink so easily, as of course thin sheet brass at 7mm scale doesn't act in any way comparably to inches thick steel! Curses! They took me some time to fret out so I've decided to soldier on with them, strengthening them as much as is possible. Compared to the Armstrong kit, I've also made them too shallow, so can't fit hornblocks in without severing them twice on both sides. In go a couple of nice thick compensation beams instead. I've posed the result with the intended tender. Now, back to the Armstrong's valve gear...

Thankyou Rob, the kit is a joy to build! I've reached the inside valve gear and managed a test fit of some of the bits. Since taking these photos I've used a brass wire brush in the mini-drill to polish stuff up, making sure I wear goggles as bits of the brush fly about the room. I find blu-tak very useful to hold fast some of the more fiddly bits as I screw them together. I've done quite a bit of filing and very careful drilling to get the eccentric sheaves fitting nicely around the crank webs (I've learnt the words, I hope I'm using them correctly; there's an excellent drawing in the July 2011 edition of Model Engineer.) What I'm interested in is how much clearance to give them. There seems to be a lot of metal to metal surface contact with a great deal of friction to be overcome, but I'm not keen on too much slop. Any tips or advice would be very welcome!

Hi Nick, the bogie is beam compensated with the wheels running in outside bearings. The tabs are limit stops as you suspected. Here's a picture of the bogie before the beams went in. They're basically thin rectangles that slide into the deep slot at either side in the centre and locate at either end in some more tabs. They also have the rest of the cosmetic bogie spring gear attached to them and are held in place by 10 BA bolts. I think I've got some more pictures somewhere...

Thanks Ken and a Happy New Year to everyone, particularly those at RMWeb for the continuing good job they do for us! Since Christmas I've put together the front bogie of the Armstrong and as ever haven't been able to avoid the temptation of putting all of the wheels on prematurely to see what it looks like. It runs along beautifully. I spent plenty of time fettling the bearing surfaces of the bogie so that everything ticks along nicely. My father alerted me to series of articles in the "Model Engineer" magazine by a gentleman called Peter Rich. He describes the building of 5 inch gauge models of both Dean Armstrong and Single locomotives. There are plenty of excellent drawings and prototype details and his models look fantastic. He plays the bagpipes too! Working inside valve gear next!

Here is the cleaned up chassis with the footplate strengthening brackets attached (top of p4 in the instruction booklet); it has a certain raffish Star Trek look to it!

After the ashpan and some of the frame stretchers the instructions move on to the main chassis frames. Four hornguides are folded up and fitted and specific bearings (thin for the leading axle and standard for the trailing) slide in with barely a fettle. You do need to tap the guides for 14BA and it's a good idea to make sure you've got 14, 12, 8, and 6BA taps. Eileens do them! You also need to think very carefully about the orientation and handedness of the components. The slot/tab and bolt style of construction helps you to check everything before you solder up. MOK are great at replying to any queries you might have, I emailed with a question about the wheels I'm using (there are different components for Slaters or AH) and received a helpful and friendly answer on the same day. The balance beam compensation(?) system is lovely. You have to tap a small bush to 6BA and the easiest way I found to do this was to hold the bush in the collett of my powerdrill and carefully hand-tap with the tap held in a small drill (see picture). The chassis goes together beautifully using slots and tabs and I found it to be completely square and accurate, (checking with my Master Chassis jig.) There is a fantastic set of castings for the motion bracket and side arms which needed to be soldered carefully and tapped to be bolted to the chassis, the most difficult part of the build so far, and really, a doddle. In fact the most arduous task is to file all the tabs off everything once you've soldered up, (which explains the masking tape preventing filings getting into the bearing surfaces. 14.5 hours so far!

Made a start on the Armstrong today while a blizzard raged outside. I'm keeping track of how long I take by marking the timings on the instruction booklet as I go. Page 1 includes the building of the ashpan with a sliding claw device that engages with the motor/gearbox. Also, various chassis stretchers. Everything is etched in beautifully thin, springy nickel-silver. There is an element of 3D jigsaw building involved and you do have to look carefully at the photos and work out how the tabs align. Also the fit of the parts is so good that care is needed when removing the parts from the fret so as not to distort the tabs. Removing the etching cusp ensures everything goes together sweetly. My "Hold and Fold" device helps to produce nice crisp 90' folds. Here are the bits so far.

Oh gosh! Thanks ever so much for directing me to the PM function and my profound apologies to those people who left messages and got no replies! I'll try and be alert to them from now on. Simon

My PMs?

Hi, thanks for your help and interest; I'll stick with the Canon as it's here and it's new to me! I've always used Mashimas up 'til now, though I do have a dirty great MSC 'JH' and gearbox plus massive flywheel for when I get round to building my Great Bear kit (hidden in the cupboard...it was a huge bargain from eBay, honest.) So, I've finished the Andrew's 3000 gallon tender kit as far as I can before I paint it. As my paint shop is the garden, that may take sometime...It's a lovely little kit with good detail and nice castings, with enough duplicates to be very useful for the other tenders. The instructions were'nt always clear and I changed a couple of things, like the chequerboarding at the front and added a simple compensation system as I don't like rigid chassis. And now to start the "Armstrong", although I'm co-hosting "Dave and Simon's (Comedy) Quiz Night" at the MRC in Kings Cross tonight, not to be missed, you know, (very good prizes) so I'm not going to get very far...

Hi Kev and OzzyO, yes it's a Canon (with a lot of serial numbers) firmly pre-attached to the gearbox by ABC. I'm very keen on flywheels on my motors, so if there isn't room I might try to replace it with a small Mashima? The gearbox itself is a beautiful little piece of engineering. I'm busily reading the instructions for about the eighth time as the kit seems quite different in style to many others and I don't want to sail ahead and solder something that I shouldn't. Also, Kev, do you not have a secret kit cupboard? Very handy for sneaking things into and then gradually introducing to the household authorities as "oh, something I've had lying around for quite a while..."

Ah, the renaissance of beautiful Edwardian(ish) Great Western locomotives. How's about a new-build? My vote would be for an Achilles class. My Gooch gearbox and motor, for the Armstrong, arrived post-free from ABC on Friday. Ordered on Saturday at Reading. Excellent service! While I've been waiting I've made further progress on my clutch of 3000 gallon tenders. I'm going to end up with four of them and one loco, although I may try to scratch-build "Earl Cawdor" at the same time as it shares many similarities with the Armstrong and then there'll be four 4-4-0s on the go... And, for a complete change of subject, two missing Dr Who episodes have been recovered, one, a vintage Patrick Troughton! Hurrah!

Woo hoo, went to Reading Gauge O Trade show and bought myself another Great Western 3000 gallon tender. This one comes complete with an Armstrong class 4-4-0 locomotive, one of the most beautiful Edwardian machines to run on rails. It's an MOK kit, which while comparatively expensive (we won't be eating for a few weeks) is a little miracle of engineering. I already have their GWR 14xx tank loco kit (which I have made a start on and then was side-tracked by commissions), and it's fantastic too. The accuracy of the etches and the tab and slot construction is almost good enough to forget about the soldering iron. I'll get back to the 14xx but for now I'm going to make a start straight away on the Armstrong; to be called "Brunel". Here are some pictures of the goodies you get, including excellent instructions. Happily Slaters were there at Reading too with their special Armstrong driving wheels. I've also ordered a "Gooch" gearbox from the lovely lady on the ABC stand. I'm in no way connected with MOK, I just really like their stuff and have been waiting for this one! I'll start with the tender...

Thanks very much Nick, the expertise and information available, and freely offered, from people on this site is invaluable! So I have a little flexibility on tender details and will be looking closely at my prototype photos to see which tender will suit which loco. Cheers Simon

I went to Warley for the first time on the 19th Dec.and very much enjoyed it. There was a particularly fantastic 7mm layout, Great Western naturally...with a beautiful collection of locomotives and rolling stock. Unforgivably, I can't remember its name; possibly Newchapel Junction? Very inspiring. So armed with a powerful new temperature controlled soldering iron from Phil at Hobby Holidays (and a bargain buy Springside 94xx pannier kit for later) I've decided to tackle some half finished projects while also kick-starting my "Earl Cawdor". I've got a near complete tender from the Scorpio "Achilles" kit started 3 years ago; a similar tender from a dubious internet buy which purported to be a DJB Achilles kit but was actually semi-scratch-built with a few kit bits and a set of instructions (learnt a lesson there...) and a David Andrews 3000 gallon tender kit bought at Telford this year for the "Earl Cawdor". So, I thought I might as well finish the lot off together using the generous spares from the Scorpio and Andrews, along with a bit of scratch-building, to bring all three up to the same standard. Here they are so far... What I'm keen to know about is that curious little joggle at the front end at the top of the sides. It doesn't appear on any of the drawings in Jim Russell's book or any of the others that I have but is very obvious in many photos of locos of the period. Were there two types of 3000 gallon tender or was it just a modification associated with the removal of the coal rails and addition of the coal-plates? My collection has examples of all three!